The Madness is about to begin.

Selection Sunday is just a few days away.

The men’s and women’s tournaments begin next week.

Soon, we’ll be cheering for last-second shots and last-second blocks.

We’ll learn that the Cougars are from Southern Illinois Edwardsville. Hint: They were the first to secure an NCAA men’s berth in the Ohio Valley championship game last Saturday. We’ll learn that the Terriers are from Wofford.

The Bulldogs of Drake are already in.

The Hawkeyes are out.

The Cyclones are in.

And Lone Tree’s Steve Forbes, the head men’s basketball coach at Wake Forest, will be in with his Demon Deacons.

Brackets will fly around offices and bars and restaurants and social media by Monday, and the betting windows will be open.

March Madness has arrived.

And that brings me to the “dream job.”

Imagine that you’re on the selection committee that picks the 64, oops, 68 teams, that get into the men’s tournament.

Oh, sure, there’s the pressure that comes with the job.

But there are hoops. And hoops. And hoops. All week long. Nothing but conference tournaments. One slip by a conference’s top seed in its own tournament spells doom. If a number three knocks off a number one in, say, a conference championship game on the mid-majors level, do you take the number three (which you have to because it’s an automatic selection) and toss out number one? Or do you still keep number one because it’s only lost five games all year, and then have to toss out one of the teams in a power conference, like maybe a Wisconsin or Indiana in the Big Ten.

It is a tricky numbers game.

And still a dream job.

Of the 68 spots (four teams get into Tuesday’s play-in round), 31 are determined by conference championship games. The other 37 are at-large bids. Sounds like a lot. It’s not.

Members of the selection committee, who are athletic directors or commissioners recommended by their conferences, are instructed to consider strength of schedules, quality of wins, statistical performance and win-loss records.

So it’s not just a “this week” thing, even if it can turn into that.

Who puts on a good show?

Which team won 15 games in the first three months of the season, but had a losing record in February?

Which team fell apart in the first round of its conference tournament?

Which team has been on an absolute roll since January?

You can be Southern Illinois Edwardsville winning a league title in Evansville, Indiana, or Wofford playing in Ashville, North Carolina, or Drake playing in St. Louis.

This is the Madness.

And then, there are the women, a tournament made so famous over the last couple of years by Iowa’s Caitlin Clark.

The Hawkeyes are likely in.

The Cyclones are on the bubble.

And defending national champion South Carolina is back as a likely top seed.

UCLA and Southern Cal are title contenders.

More March Madness.

I like Duke in the men’s tourney.

I know, that’s easy. The Blue Devils entered this week’s ACC Tournament with a 28-3 record. They lost just one ACC game during the regular season. They beat conference rival North Carolina twice. They beat Wake twice. Their only loss was at Clemson. Duke freshman Cooper Flagg is one of the top players in the country and just the fourth in ACC history to win ACC Player of the Year and ACC Rookie of the Year.

I like blue.

Normally, that’s Kansas.

This time, Duke.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul